Until this morning, I don’t think I ever seen Kyle Larson’s name in print, but because I saw the headline, I read about his attempt to race in both the Indy 500 and Coca Cola 600 today. He’s neither the first nor the last, but it evoked memories of famous round trips. Americans are famous for their road trips-usually in the guise of family vacations or college beer runs (spring break). In my twisted world, the round trip is any 3 hour+ trip each way, made in a single day.

In my humble opinion Larson’s pursuit would be far more compelling if he had to get from Indy to Charlotte by means of a commercial flight (TSA and bad traffic). We all probably know folks who use long drives to relax and I’m not just referring to movie or TV murder suspects who take that long aimless drive after publicly fighting with the dead person. I also imagine Larson telling his family he’d love to be home Sunday night but has to go on a drive. Hmm.

In the past couple of years, my longest round trips are of the 3-hour (200 mile) each way variety. I’m less excited about those trips to Appleton, Davenport, Grand Rapids, Indy and beyond. It’ less painful to spend the night, but also less economically sound.

I’m sure everyone has friends or relatives that have made several round trips to pick up or drop off a kid at college. I guess it’s in the spirit of love although at some point the geniuses should be able to figure out bus schedules. In my four years of college, I never thought or expected by Dad to drop everything or anything and drive out to school. Not only was he not a roadster, but he also wasn’t a fool. Back in the mid-80’s, it was always cheaper for me to fly to and from school. There was nothing sane about 760 miles each way (according to Google Maps) or the 11 1/2-12 hours each way.

Years ago in the spirit of chasing baseball, I stupidly drove to and from STL in the same day. The 5+ hours sandwiched a Cardinals-Dodgers postseason game and at the time the time spent driving back and forth down 55 seemed reasonable and feasible. It was the latter but not the former.

As far as double dipping goes, sports fans love to catch multiple games in the same city in the same day. Fans in Chicago have double dipped Cubs, Sox, and Bears games on the same day. The same happens in other goofy sports crazed cities. On my first visit to Indy some 20 years ago, I caught an Indians afternoon game and watched the Sixers and AI squash the Pacers like insects later that night. Given that Victory Field and the Canseco Fieldhouse are only a five-minute walk made it less of an accomplishment. It was pretty cool though.

I wish Mr. Larson well and look forward to reading about his adventure.